


Equivalent Exchange

by kashinoha



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Snart has questionable feelings, Zoom done screws up, sort of, spoilers for 2x06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 23:27:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5225240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kashinoha/pseuds/kashinoha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Cold is usually not in the habit of passing up a sweet deal, but he finds himself refusing this one all the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Equivalent Exchange

**Equivalent Exchange  
**

All characters © DC Comics

 

 

The air had been different for a while now.

If you asked him how he would not know, exactly—only something about the way it smelled, the slightly mineral taste of it on his tongue that had nothing to do with the river, the way it made the back of a neck prickle in odd ways.

If Leonard Snart had to describe it in one word, that word would be _thin._ Ever since the wormhole, black hole; he did not know the right word because he ditched high school at sixteen and never bothered taking physics. But it mattered little. There were parts of this city— _his_ city—that felt wrong now. Even from a jail cell he felt it, and he did not care for it at all.

The only problem was, Snart was no longer in his jail cell. Two point five seconds ago, however, had been a different story, and normally not being in a jail cell was ample cause for celebration. Now, though, Snart only felt cold. And not in a “I’m going to freeze all the water in your cell walls” kind of cold.

“You are a man of many talents, I hear,” Zoom told him.

They were on some rooftop of some building, because of course it was a rooftop, and the sickle moon grinned a milky grin because it knew all the secrets that transpired when the sun went down. Snart swallowed, carefully, trying not to notice how despite there being two of them up here, only one of them was casting a shadow.

“I am good at a lot of things,” replied Snart, proud with his ability to keep cool because not only could he not see the guy clearly, even if he squinted, but that voice was like something out of an exorcist movie. He knew it was all for effect, but it was…unsettling, to say the least. Snart refused to even think the word _afraid,_ because under tar masks, snaps of lightning, and wiggly voice boxes men were still men, nothing more.

“Then you just might be right for a certain…assignment.”

This guy’s mask definitely had eyeholes, but behind them there was nothing. Only a glistening of moonlight against something black. That may have been deeply disturbing to most people, but Snart suddenly found himself resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He enjoyed suave rejoinders and witty pre-ice banter as much as the next super villain. Yet, being insufferably cryptic appeared to be a shared trait amongst most of the suped-up metahumans.

He knew he could be a ham at times, but at least Snart was straightforward.

So he steepled his fingers together in front of him and tried to look in the general direction of the eyeholes. “What did you have in mind, Mister…?”

“Zoom.”

“Right,” Snart said, slowly, _“Mister_ Zoom. How can I help you?”

“The Flash.” There was a silence, the kind that reminded Snart of stormclouds and wakes in November. “Kill him.”

Snart held out his hands. “Just like that? You know, I could. But I don’t see what’s in it for me,” he said.

“I have the means to get you anything you want. Riches. Pleasures,” answered Zoom, tilting his head and drawing out the words for effect. A spark of electricity or whatever it was wended lazily around his chest. “Freedom.”

“It’s tempting,” replied Snart, raising an eyebrow. He picked at the tag on his lapel that read _0492,_ which had a loose thread at one corner. A reminder that despite everything, he and the Flash were not so different. And that Zoom had made the mistake of thinking his greatest values could be anything so mundane.

After a moment, he said, “One of the perks of prison is television. I saw what you did to the kid. Banged him up pretty bad.”

Zoom straightened his head. “This seems to bother you. Interesting.”

Snart narrowed his eyes. His initial fear (yes, a part of him would admit it was fear) was slowly being replaced with a coiling in his gut that he recognized, from years of experience, as dislike. So Zoom was the type who tried to poke around in your head hoping to find your heart. Those were the types that screwed up the most—but they were also the types that were quick to kill.

“Don’t have any… _special_ powers,” he told Zoom with a shrug. “So I have to ask. Why do you need me to do something you can clearly do yourself?”

Zoom chuckled, the sound floating up from his mask like it was under water. “In my world, your gun also freezes time,” he said.

Snart’s lip curled up. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“I could get it for you.” There was the sense that Zoom was smiling behind those mouth slits. Snart thought again of the Flash, limp and broken, and his lips pursed together. Only a kid, really. Zoom could do the same to him in a heartbeat—probably less, but if Snart was good at anything it was staying alive. Sure, he didn’t care much for the throat-singing, but the most sensible thing would be to take the offer. Do the job, don’t get killed. Simple.

He blinked and saw the evening news behind his eyelids.

Simple was boring.

“Like I said, tempting. And I’m not just saying this; I’ve always wanted a villa in the mountains and a life’s supply of cooler ranch Doritos,” said Snart, smirking. “But you’ll have to find someone else to do the job.”

“You and the Flash are enemies,” said Zoom, white-blue light coruscating around his neck and torso ominously. “I assumed you would want him…taken care of.”

“This,” Snart gestured, “ploy of yours. Find somebody desperate, offer them what they want in return for a favor. It’s smart. Desperate is peremptory. But since you’re obviously new around here, you don’t know me as well as you think you do. I’m not desperate. I have everything I want, and you have nothing of real value to offer me.”

Zoom leaned in close. “With the Flash gone, you could do anything you wanted with this city.”

“And I’d be stuck with you instead,” replied Snart. “You see, Mister Zoom, I have a personal investment in this city. If I kill Scarlet here, something tells me you’re not going to be much better. And besides.” He smiled. “Kid’s growing on me.”

“So you refuse?”

Snart gave a sigh. “It pains me to say it, but yes,” he said. Now came the gamble. “Will you kill me now, Mister Zoom? Break me apart?”

Zoom gave him an unreadable look. The air felt thin and wispy, and Snart breathed it in deeply. Just in case. After a moment Zoom pulled back, thoughtful in a way that was both familiar to Snart and yet impossible to understand.

“You will be useful,” he said, finally.

Snart let out a little huff of laughter. “So I’m a pawn,” he mused, crossing his arms. “Well,” he shrugged, “if it keeps me alive, I suppose I’ll let it slide.”

And with that Snart felt a breeze and found himself looking at the little scuffed urinal in his cell. He walked over to the window where he could see the moon, now high and small in the crisp night sky.

“Oh four nine two, back in his cell,” he said, softly.

The offer Zoom had given him continued to needle Snart even as he lay in bed later, prickling so much like the currents in the air and the taste of change at the back of his mouth. He lay awake for a few hours, thinking of wormholes and Lisa and his gun now collecting dust over at STAR Labs.

A cold gun that stopped time would have been pretty badass, it was true. Mick would have gotten a kick out of it. Snart looked up at the moon, eyes lidded, and wondered if he had made the right decision. It was not that he particularly _liked_ Barry Allen, per say. The kid was an enormous dork and a pain in his ass most of the time. But, as he was realizing more and more these days, there were bigger cards to deal.

And when the time came, powers or not, Leonard Snart planned to have all aces.

 

_End._

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not in the habit of doing episode tags, but I couldn't help but wonder about the Snarts' reaction to Zoom demolishing Barry on public television since they're in that kind of frenemies place now. I haven't read the comics, so I don't know who Zoom is yet, but I decided to give it a go writing for him. Hope you enjoy!


End file.
